A group of Tabligh Jamaat followers are demonstrating in Dhaka airport area in protest against the arrival of a top leader of the organisation from India, creating huge traffic congestions on major roads there.

A good number of Tabligh Jamaat men put up a barricade at Airport Road intersection around 12 noon as they got information that Indian Tabligh Jamaat scholar Maulana Saad Kandolvi was arriving here, Rashed, commanding officer of the Airport Armed Police Battalion, told UNB.

He said Saad Kandolvi who reached the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by a Thai Airways flight around 1:30pm, returned home by another flight following the protest.

However, the Tabligh Jamaat activists did not withdraw the barricade till 4:00pm, disrupting traffic on the roads from Kakoli to Gazipur.

Ruhul Amin Sagar, assistant commissioner (Airport zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told UNB that they are trying to convince the protesters to pull out their blockade.

He said the Tabligh Jamaat men assured them of withdrawing their barricade after Asr prayers.

He said Saad Kandolvi might have scheduled to join the first phase of the 53rd Biswa Ijtema, the second largest congregation of the Muslim community after the holy hajj, to be held from January 12-14 on the bank of the Turag River.